Back in the late 1980s, I ran across a book called Joy’s Way: A Map for the Transformational Journey. The author’s personal story is compelling, particularly in the way he used it to change his life and develop a healing technique. We use his story in our new book, Synchronicity and the Other Side because it illustrates how people who have been cured of serious illnesses through often attribute their healing to their higher selves, to the ways in which their souls or spirits spoke to them through their bodies.
In 1975, W. Brugh Joy had a flourishing medical practice in Los Angeles, life was good. Then shortly before his thirty-fifth birthday, he was diagnosed with chronic relapsing pancreatitis, and there was no cure.This disease causes debilitating abdominal pain that may persist for several days, as it did for Joy. He knew the disease was unpredictable, that it might end abruptly on its own or that an attack could turn into fulminating pancreatitis, which had a mortality rate at that time of eighty percent. With each attack Joy probed his own psyche, struggling to understand why he was manifesting a disease that could severely restrict his activities or lead to his demise.
“I examined the stresses in my life, but they were inconsequential in comparison to the disease process and thus not powerful enough to lead to it. I talked to my body, trying to find some symbolic aspect that a malfunctioning pancreas might reflect, but nothing appeared. I simply could not see the dynamics of my problem.”
One Saturday morning while working on some medical charts in his office, he felt a powerful urge to enter into meditation. Even though he meditated daily, this urge was exceptionally strong, so he finished up what he was doing and began meditating. “A vortex of energy, of a magnitude I had never before experienced, reverberated through my body and threw my awareness into a super heightened state. Then a loud voice said, in essence: Your experience and training as an orthodox physician is completed. It’s over. The time has come for you to embark on a rededication of your Beingness to a deeper commitment and action.”
The voice proceeded to lay out the journeys Brugh would be taking – Findhorn, England, Egypt, India, Nepal, trips that would “reawaken old soul memories.” The voice told him that his vision of being a physician was distorted and overemphasized “the body and external causes and ignored the journey of the soul.” He was to start studying alternative healing techniques and practices so that he could develop a more integrated approach to healing.
The experience was so powerful that within six weeks, Joy had resigned from his medical practice and walked away from all that was familiar to him. “The wellspring that nourished my awareness was the knowing – the absolute knowing – that the course of action I was following was true to my soul.” When he arrived in Findhorn, his first destination, he realized he hadn’t had a single attack of abdominal pain since that voice first spoke to him.
His body had spoken and its message was clear: it was time to restore his soul. Joy went on to write several books – Joy’s Way: A Map for the Transformational Journey is the best known – and for years conducted workshops on his healing techniques.
Michael Crichton, in his book Travels, has a chapter called Cactus Teachings, which is about the Brugh Joy retreat that he attended in 1982. It’s one of the best chapters in the book and provides a powerful glimpse of the techniques Joy used. The conference was held at a facility in the desert and early on, Joy had told the attendees to walk in the desert until they found a rock, tree, or plant with whom they felt a particular kinship. Then they were supposed “to spend time with this teacher, and talk with the teacher and learn what the teacher had to teach us.” So Crichton set out to find his teacher.
As other attendees excitedly reported finding a teacher, Crichton got annoyed because he hadn’t. He finally found a cactus in an artificial rock garden in a meditation room.”I didn’t like the cactus,” he wrote. It was common, a sort of phallic cactus shape like lots of thorns. It was rather battered, with scars on one side. It was not in any way an attractive cactus.”
Days passed. Crichton kept talking to the cactus, visiting it, but the cactus refused to speak to him. the cactus never spoke to him. Then finally one day on his way to the meditation room, he thought that if the cactus was really his teacher, it would speak to him. “And the cactus said, ‘When are you going to stop running around and talk?’ Irritably. Like a grouchy old man.”
After this, Crichton kept firing questions at the cactus. It refused to speak to him. Every day, the same thing happened: no response. The conference continued, Crichton was exposed to new things – healing techniques, chakras, perceptual changes, the tarot, the I Ching. “On the final day of the conference, I visited the cactus to say good-bye. The cactus was just sitting there. I wouldn’t speak to me.” Crichton told the cactus that he appreciated what it had shown him and said he’d enjoyed spending time with it. “Which wasn’t exactly true because I felt frustrated a lot of the time, but I thought it was more or less true.” Still no response.
“Then I realized that from its position in the garden, the cactus could never see the sun set. The cactus had been years in that position and been deprived of seeing sunsets. I burst into tears. And then the cactus said, ‘It”s been good having you here with me.’ Then I really cried.”
Eight months after that conference, Crichton’s life had completely turned around. He had changed his relationships, residence, work, diet, habits, interests, exercise, goals – in fact, anything in his life that could be changed, was changed. “These changes were so sweeping that I couldn’t see what was happening while I was in the midst of them. And there was another change, too. I’ve become very fond of cacti, and I always have some around, wherever I live.”
very interesting… i firmly believe that the mind and soul affects our physical being.
Heads up….the dead bird count in Arkansas is now five thousand, according to AP, and there are close to a million dead fish floating on top of the water there now. Surely something wicked this way comes! There can be no "natural" cause of such a catastrophic killing off of animal species. They're trying to blame it on a "virus" of some kind. If I lived in that state, I'd be considering the wisdom of moving elsewhere. A virus that transmigrates between fish and birds? Will humans be next? cj
Great post and I have also been very sick since Christmas Eve. Am finally feeling better and I have Also felt that 2011 is about my health.
Thanks for this post. It was particularly poignant because often the things that we think aren't doing anything for us are doing the greatest good for us.
Ahhh….. I loved this post too!
I did a similar theme on my post last night. It was about listening to your soul even if it seems chaotic to yourself and others. I also wrote about an animal symbol, so we are tuning in to a great energy shift methinks.
nessess
= necessary. 🙂
Thank you for sharing this…it is affecting me deeply.
Interesting comments here! I like cj's theory about shifting frequencies in december…Perhaps jan 2011 is he gearing. Not sure what to think about these two thousand blackbirds dead in arkansas.
not really sure if that love (abstract, such a varied term, wide ranging concept,, easily said) solves it all),,,, to me the message of the Bible from a simplistic stand point would be this,,, old testament and new testament…. 1 being the strength (old testament) the other being the compassion (new testament) one being worth less without the other,,, Lke Curtis Hammond (One Door Away From Heaven) said,,, and yes he only varified "simple's" way of thinking
Thank you, Simple! And on the subject of the Jaguars, we're licking our wounds today. Yesterday we played without Garrard and MoJo, and it was a disaster, as I'm sure you saw! Pathetic. And I agree. We are here to love, not to hate. My greatest Teacher through the years said to me more than once, "Connie, LOVE SOLVES EVERYTHING". I truly believe that at the end of the day when all is said and done, love truly does solve everything. And…Love heals. Nancy, I've been astonished by the number of folks who have told me they've been sick during this holiday season, including myself. December 2010 has been bad for our health, for some reason, and I don't think it has anything to do with stress or the weird weather. I think perhaps it's the shifting frequencies. What do you think? cj
Very interesting! I do understand how certain objects talk to us, receive our messages and comfort us.
what an incredible post! just magnificent in its message – for as long as i can remember i have talked to my plants and have left music playing for them when i was at work, too, and to rocks and to little critters even in the wild – when i was little and our family was on another of our cross-country road trips, it was nothing at all for us to be pulling a small trailer behind – the trailer was to hold the rocks we collected as we traveled – our mother was responsible for that teaching, actually – as she always always collected rocks and stones and crystals – and to this day i have a small well-put-together collection of crystals that belonged to her grandmother – so, to my great grandchildren, that collection is 7 generations old – but i digress – i love the joy technique here – something that can be done anywhere in nature really – a beautiful technique – can't wait to try it!
not sure about this wv but it seems intriguing here:
tusheumb
I loved this post and it is EXACTLY what I need to read today! I'm also off to order these books. 2011 is a transformational year for many of us, and my health is number one on my list. It was so strange because I got really sick while on vacation over the holiday, and I'm STILL really sick. I now realize it's my body saying it's time to give it the attention I have given my mind and spirit over the last many years. Thanks for this.
A glorious post. To properly listen to ourselves and communicate with nature would no doubt change our lives. We'd all be following our dreams. Wonder why so many of us don't.
from a few days ago,,, back a couple of months ago CJ you spoke kind words to me,, and maybe I haven't typed with a similiar(seemingly) frame of mind,, not the case… (the QB who played for you guys (Jaguars) used to play his high school (wild cats) ball very very close…) but as for your schooling, carreer and subsequent search,,, maybe it be A "the" paradox of life…
How bout a synchronicty riddle "C if Rob leaves it up" what's the connection between New Years day and Good Friday….. hints think Alpha and the Omega…. ying yang and the intials for the main (I'm thinking) egyptian god
what day did silver pass 30$ an ounce and when is the full moon in 2………
Oh yeah by the way if God wanted us here,,, to be of use,,,, pretty sure it wasn't to hate……
Thank you so much for this post…so inspirational. I rushed right off to my online book source and ordered both. It seems it's just what I need right now. I love when that happens.
Thanks again. And I like anonymous…I talk to my plants and they talk back. Although I was alarmed last year when my largest jade plant that I kept in my bedroom for years…just up and died. I tried everything to save it. I wonder now if it was telling about bits of myself that are dying off and need replenishing…so it seems reading the 2 books talked about here might just be what I'm searching for…transformation. The universe screaming at me…if the plant didn't get its message across…this post sure has.
You both are awesome…hope you're feeling the big hug I'm sending your way.
Oh, how I love this story! My husband used to laugh at me, (he doesn't anymore), because I've always talked to my plants, (our home is filled with them), and to trees in the woods, and whenever anyone travels and asked me what I'd like to have them bring me, I ask for a rock….just a plain old rock from the ground….and I have a basket of rocks from all over the world now. When I groom my plants, I tell them it's just to help them flourish and grow, and I swear thay talk to me as well, and they DO fourish and grow! And they respond to beautiful music, too. Our two baby grandsons head straight for grandma's rock basket as soon as they come in the front door, and THEY talk to the rocks! My five-year-old grand tells me what the rocks are saying to him! This post is so on target, and so timely, considering what we are doing to our mother earth….and also to how we can change our bodies by holistically addressing mind, body, and spirit. I do love the physician's life change. That had to be a massive decision! WOW. Just WOW. cj
A white stone..this sounds really Jungian!
What an interesting post! Yesterday when my husband went for a walk, he was attracted to a white stone, which he picked up and brought home. When he shared it with me, I wondered at the subtle change happening in him. This is something he would NEVER have done a year ago…